Historically, air-purifying respirator masks such as those intended for protection against chemical and biological agents were not specifically designed for use in combination with helmets, headsets, and other head mounted gear. Increasingly, however, military, homeland security, and civilian law enforcement personnel are required to wear chemical/biological air purifying filtration apparatus along with helmets, headsets, face shields and other head mounted gear. The lack of integration between traditional respirator masks and other head mounted equipment has caused discomfort, difficulty in fitting and obtaining a proper air seal, premature fatigue and diminished capabilities for wearers, especially after extended periods of use. The addition of night vision goggles, communications gear, and Other head mounted apparatus further exacerbates the problem.
Various efforts have been directed to integrating air-purifying filtration apparatus with head mounted gear. One example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,826,783 issued on Dec. 7, 2004 to Grove, et al., a co-applicant herein (“'783 patent”), and is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The '783 patent discloses a chemical/biological protection helmet, especially suited to use by aircraft personnel, that incorporates a self-contained air-purifying filter system to provide protection against a range of chemical and biological agents. The air-purifying filter in the '783 patent is attached to the helmet behind the wearer's head. Ducting within the helmet connects the rear mounted filter to the front to provide filtered air to the user. Placement of the filter behind the head advantageously positions the center-of-gravity of the helmet system closer to a point lying over the shoulders of the wearer. This results in improved stability and comfort and removes the filter from the wearer's field of view for better visibility. While the '781 patent provides significant improvements over the prior art, further improvements are needed, particularly in the areas of operational flexibility and modularity. For example, components of the '783 patent's chemical/biological protection helmet are not configured to be interchangeably incorporated into different chemical/biological personal protection systems. In addition, reconfiguration of system component parts to meet different operational needs is limited. Embodiments according to the present invention are designed to address at least the foregoing needs.